The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
A personal computer or workstation may use an electronic mouse as a control device. Regardless of different shapes, sizes, and designs, most of the electronic mice are held by human hands to move on a flat surface, and the movement of the electronic mouse is produced by movements of the wrist and/or arm of a user. Either a rubberized ball or a laser beneath the electronic mouse is used to measure the displacement over the underlying surface, which is then translated to the movement of a cursor on the computer display. A traditional mouse may include two or three actuator buttons on the top surface, which may be clicked by the index finger and/or middle finger to control the operations of the computer. The thumb in most cases is just for the purpose of holding and moving the electronic mouse.
Due to the requirement of a flat surface to operate the traditional mouse, the mouse user has to extend the arm and hand away from the body over a desk surface. Usually there is no supporting structures on which the arm may rest, and the arm and hand may need to be maintained in an unnatural position for the full duration of the computer operation or at least on occasion for prolonged periods of time. Prolonged use of the electronic mouse on a flat surface has caused shoulder and back pain for many users. The medical society has long recognized the direct connection between prolonged use of an electronic mouse and a repetitive stress injury on an arm such as in carpal tunnel syndrome. A wireless mouse differs from the wired mouse (serial or USB) in communication methods used to connect the electronic mouse to the computer, while the wireless mouse still requires a flat surface to operate on and thereby causes similar health issues for the users.
Personal computers and workstations may include separate hardware/software units to implement various accessory functionalities that include, but are not limited to, a mouse, a keyboard, a microphone and speakers, a monitor. A user may have to switch among various interface devices to interact with a computer, for example to use a mouse for navigation, a keyboard for text inputting, and a microphone and speakers for giving a voice command or receiving computer's audio output, and a monitor for receiving computer's visual output. Furthermore, multiple electronic devices may be used at home, in different locations using different platforms. A user may have to walk around the house to approach different devices for different purposes. For example, the user may sit in front of a desktop computer or a laptop to work on some documents or do some reading, or browse the Internet using a tablet in the bedroom, or go to the living room and sit in front of a flat screen television to watch TVs or play video games, or use a smart phone to text and make phone calls wherever the user goes. Therefore, the user experience operating on the variety of computing/electronic systems is segmented.